Nikhil Gupta is facing a 24 year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a failed assasination bid on Saturday. He was arrested nearly three years ago over a murder-for-hire plot against US citizen and India-designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The protracted legal battle came to an abrupt end this week as Gupta pleaded guilty — leaving family members shocked and surprised.
Sources told The Indian Express that Gupta had been keenly aware of the toll his circumstances were taking on his family. The confession was reportedly his bid to end the “long and exhausting” legal battle. Sentencing will take place at the end of May but his guilty plea means that imprisonment is almost a certainty.
“The family has been fighting this for so long. He would have sensed the toll it was taking on them and decided to put an end to it. He hasn’t turned approver or anything but has taken all the blame on himself, from what the family has been told by his lawyer,” a source close to the family told The Indian Express.
They added that Gupta had not informed his family prior to the announcement. They had only learnt of his decision through his lawyer on Friday — mere hours before the news broke on media channels.
What is the case?
Gupta pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in a statement.
According to the allegations contained in the indictment, other public court documents, and statements made in court, Gupta worked together with others in India and elsewhere, including, with co-defendant Vikash Yadav to plot Pannun’s assassination on US soil.
At Yadav’s direction, Gupta contacted an individual whom he believed to be a criminal associate, but who was in fact a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration for assistance in contracting a hitman to murder Pannun in New York City.
Yadav subsequently agreed, in dealings brokered by Gupta, to pay the undercover officer USD 100,000 to murder the victim.
On or about June 9, 2023, Yadav and Gupta arranged for an associate to deliver USD 15,000 in cash to the undercover officer as an advance payment for the murder.